Which bird "taxonomy" does Birdpost use?
Birdpost derives its database of scientific and common bird names from the widely adopted ‘Clements, Birds of the World, a Checklist’.

What if I’ve seen a bird that doesn’t appear on Birdpost although I am fairly certain it exists?
There are several major world avian "taxonomies" (lists of common and scientific bird names). The two central bird taxonomies are the "Clements" and "AOU" (American Ornithological Union) with the AOU generally addressing North American Bird classification. There are minor differences between the two taxonomies in the way bird names are spelled or hyphenated but more important are the discrepancies in the birds included on both lists. For example, the Blue Grouse in the AOU taxonomy is split into two distinct species (the Dusky Grouse and the Sooty Grouse) in the Clements. On the whole, the lists are very similar but we ultimately chose a taxonomy that covered not only North America, but the world, and that was the Clements taxonomy.

What satellite mapping technology does Birdpost use?
Birdpost employs "Google Maps" satellite mapping technology

How much does an annual membership to Birdpost cost?
Birdpost is currently a free service.

What does the search box at the top-right of the page allow me to do?
The search box at the top of each page allows for some fascinating searches. You can use the search box to search for birds by common name, like "Red-tailed Hawk", or for general searches like "hummingbirds". You can also search for birds by their geographic "range" or their physical characteristics, or both. To search for birds using multiple search queries separate the queries by commas. For example, you can search for all the woodpeckers known to live in California by entering "California, woodpeckers" that will produce a visual grid of images that meet your query. You can also search for birds in a given region with a particular physical characteristic, for example, "New York, yellow legs". The search box will not currently accept city searches, but if you type in a county, state, or country, you should get excellent results.

What if I have a question for the Birdpost team?
To find answers to your questions first go to Birdpost’s Help/FAQ page to see if your question is already answered there. Also, visit the Forums page to see what other users may be saying about your question. If you can’t find an answer to your questions, feel free to submit questions to Birdpost via email at contact@birdpost.com.

I forgot my password or username. What do I do?
To retrieve your password or username go to the Log-in link at the top-right of any page on the site. On the Log-In page select the "forgot your username or password?" link and we will email you your username and password.

What does the medallion at the top-right of the page do?
The medallion at the upper right of Birdpost reflects the total number of individual bird species a Birdpost user has seen in his/her lifetime (also called a "Lifelist"). As new bird species are added to a user’s "My Birds" page the number on the medallion changes. At certain milestones (see following question), the color of the medallion and the "Add a Bird" button will also change. Bird sightings for birds already reported on your "My Birds" page will not cause the number on the medallion to change.

Why do the medallion and “Add a Bird” button change colors periodically?
The medallion at the upper right of the page changes colors as users reach certain thresholds for individual bird species added to the "My Birds" page. The medallion & "Add a Bird" button will change colors at the following milestones: 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 750, 1000, 2,500, and 5,000.

How can I invite friends or fellow birders to Birdpost?
The best way to invite other birders to Birdpost is to use the "Invite" feature on the Inbox submenu (under the Profile tab), which allows you to invite multiple friends to Birdpost at once. Please help get the word out!

Which bird "taxonomy" does Birdpost use?
Birdpost derives its database of scientific and common bird names from the widely adopted ‘Clements, Birds of the World, a Checklist’.

How can I add bird sightings to my personal list of birds?
Birds can be added to your list of birds (aka the "My Birds" page) at various locations throughout the site. Namely:

1. Add A Bird Button: Birds can be quickly added by clicking the "Add a Bird" button near the top of every page.
2. Maps: Birds are added from the "Map Sightings" page by double-clicking on the location on the map where you saw the bird and then entering the sighting details.
3. Upload List: Lists of bird sightings can be uploaded in bulk by using the "Upload List" feature at the center of the "My Birds" page. Files being uploaded must be in a CSV format.

Must I report my sightings on the maps when I add birds to my list?
Though we highly encourage you to map all of your bird sightings, you are not required to report sightings to the map while adding birds to your "My Birds" page. Any birds added to your personal lifelist that are not mapped at the time the sighting is reported will be shown on the "Unmapped Sightings" tab on the "My Birds" page. To "map" your unmapped sightings, follow the instructions at the top of the "Unmapped Sightings" box at the right of the page.

Can I see the "My Birds" pages of other users?
You can view the "My Birds" pages of any Birdpost user that has opted to keep his/her list open to the public. To view the "My Birds" page of another Birdpost user, click on the user’s username wherever it appears on the site. You can also select the "See My Birds" button from the profile page of another user to see their birds.

Can I import a list of birds from another format, and if so, how do I do it?
Yes, you can import a list of bird sightings to Birdpost, which immediately adds those sightings to your "My Birds" page, but the list must first be converted to a "CSV" format. Any Excel file can quickly be converted to CSV quickly and easily.

How do I erase sightings from my Lifelist?
Your own personal bird sightings can be erased by selecting the red "x" located to the right of each sighting at the left-side of the "My Birds" page.

Can I export my "Lifelist" from Birdpost?
You can print your list of personal bird sightings from the "My Birds" page by selecting the "Print" icon at the center of the page but you cannot export your list in a file format.

How do I change the image of the birds on my "My Birds" page?
To change the image of a bird on your Lifelist select the "Change Image" link located at the left of the page underneath the large image viewer.

The "Change Image" link will take you to the bird species page where you can select the image you would like to represent the bird in question by selecting the "Use This Image" link under the image at the left of the page.

Can I upload my own photographs for the birds on my Lifelist?
Absolutely. To have your own personal photographs represent the birds on your "My Birds" page you must first upload your photographs to the appropriate species pages. Once your photographs have been uploaded to the appropriate species pages you can then select the "Use This Image" link located at the left of the page beneath each image in the large image viewer.

What if I don’t want other people to see my Lifelist?
Birdpost users always have the option of “locking” their My Birds page from the view of other Birdpost users. To make your lifelist “private”, go to your Profile and select the “Make Profile Private” option.

Note: Any and all bird sightings recorded on the satellite maps are public and can not be made private.

How do I find and view the Lifelists of fellow birders?
To search for other Birdpost users, go to the "My Friends" tab under "My Birds" and use the search box to find other users. You may start your search with a broad regional query, like the state of another birder you may be looking for, and work your way down the list until you find who you’re looking for. You can also search for other users by first and last name or by username.

Why is the head cut off of some of the pictures on My Lifelist?
Images on the “Image View” tab of the “My Birds” are often slightly clipped or not properly framed given that in some of the images the birds are not centered. Once you click on a thumbnail image, however, the full-size view of the image in the image-viewer (located at the left-side of the page) will always accurately render the complete image.

What is the "Unmapped Sightings" tab?
The "Unmapped Sightings" tab lists all the bird sightings that a user has reported to his/her "My Birds" page but has not marked on the satellite map. If all your sightings have been "mapped", then the "Unmapped Sightings" tab serves as a "Map View" of all the sightings you have ever reported to the maps. Your personal sightings will be marked with a blue marker on the map.

Why are photos missing for some of the birds on the site?
Birdpost does not have images for all the birds on the site. Most of the content on Birdpost is "user-generated" and relies heavily on its users contributing sightings, images, feedback, etc. If you have any good photographs of birds, please upload them to Birdpost (especially the ones we don’t have many or any of yet!)

How do I add additional sightings of birds already on my Lifelist?
You are encouraged to add as many sightings of a particular bird to your "My Birds" page as you’d like. To add supplemental sightings of any bird select the "Add a Bird" button in the upper right of most Birdpost pages and enter the details of the sighting – this will automatically add an additional sighting of any given bird already on your "My Birds" page. For example, if you’ve already seen 1 Bald Eagle, and you then see your 2nd Bald Eagle, the 2nd sightings will be listed under the 1st on your "My Birds" page under Bald Eagle. You can also select a bird on your "My Birds" page and then hit the "Report Another Sighting of This Bird" button to have another sighting appear under each bird.

How do I add notes or other information about my sightings?
To add "notes" or supplemental information about a given sighting use the "note" field under the "Add Details" link on the standard "Add A Bird" pop-over.

How do I share my Lifelist with a friend?
The best way to share your "My Birds" page (your lifelist) with a friend would be to add him/her to your "My Friends" page. When a user is added to another user’s "My Friends" page an internal email is sent to that user’s Birdpost inbox, notifying him/her that you’ve added that user as a Friend.

How do I print my Lifelist?
To print your lifelist go to the "My Birds" page and hit the "Print Lifelist" icon at the center of the page; this will produce a printer-friendly version of your lifelist.

How do I report a bird sighting onto the map?
To learn how to report bird sightings to the map, click here

How do I search for other people's sightings on the map?
To learn how to search for bird sightings on the map click here

How do I go to a specific place on the map?
To navigate to a location on the map use the Step 1 field in the search box at the right of the "Map Sightings" page. You may search for locations using various search queries such as: address, city, zip code, country, etc.

Can I email map sightings to other Birdpost members?
Yes. To email the specific mapped location of a mapped bird sighting simply click the "Email This Sighting" link on the sighting’s pop-over box to email the sighting to another Birdpost user. *Note: these emails are meant to stay within the Birdpost community and are sent to a user’s Birdpost "Inbox" under the "My Birds" tab

Can I email map sightings to non-Birdpost members?
You cannot email the coordinates of a bird sighting from Birdpost to an email address outside of the site. Birdpost’s map feature is not viewable by non-Birdpost users.

What does "Proximity" mean in the search box? Does it refer to the radius from the outside boundary of the place I select or what?
Proximity is the radius from the center point of the current location that you wish Birdpost to search for bird sightings. If you enter a location into the location field of the search, this will be used as the center point. If you don't give us one, we'll assume you want to search from the currently viewed center point of the map. *Note: If you enter a location such as "California" the proximity given will be the radius from the center of California. Please give us a more specific location e.g. "San Francisco, CA" so we have a more accurate center point to start from.

How do I zoom closer to a specific location?
To zoom the map in-and-out use the arrows at the upper left-side of the map page or use the scroll-wheel on your mouse.

Can I record a flock or group of the same species at a time on to the map?
You can record more than one of the same bird species with one sighting by first double-clicking on the map to report the bird, then selecting the "Add Details" option on the "Add Bird" pop-over, and finally entering the number of that particular bird you spotted in the field labeled "quantity". In some cases, there are dozens or even hundreds of a particular bird in one small region and we want to make sure we capture that data by accurately reporting the approximate number of birds (of the species in question) that were seen.

Explain map, satellite, and hybrid. What are those all about?
The maps on Birdpost can be viewed in several different ways; namely the "satellite view" that reflects the actual topographical view of the map; the "map view" that shows a generic depiction of the map as rendered by Google Maps; and the "hybrid view" that merges both views into one. You can toggle between the 3 views by using the links at the top right of the map.

What does the search box do at the top of each page? What can I search for there?
The search box at the top of each page allows users to search for a number of things at once. First and foremost, you can always use the search box to search for birds by common or scientific name, but you can include search queries for things like physical characteristics or regional searches. For example, you can search for all the ducks in California by entering, "Duck, California". Or perhaps, "yellow legs, California" that will return results for birds in California with yellow legs. *Remember to separate your search queries with a comma.

What does the "Find a Bird" box do?
The "Find a Bird" box on the "Bird Species" page separates the various search fields to better refine your search. For example, if you entered the word "Woodpecker" into the "Common Names" field you would get results showing all the woodpeckers on the world. You can then further refine that search by adding "California" or "Red Head" or anything else in the appropriate search fields to find Woodpeckers in California or Woodpeckers with red heads.

How do I find "Species Pages"?
To find the "Species Page" of a particular bird you can enter the common or scientific name of the bird into the search box at the top right of each page. If you aren’t sure about the name, you can always just enter the type of bird into the search field and go through the visual results until you find the bird you are looking for. Another easy and fun way to find any bird is to click on the "Bird Search" tab and click on the family of birds you’re looking for and then browse through the various birds to find your bird.

What if I don't know the name of a bird but I only know what it looks like?
Birdpost’s search capabilities allow you to search for birds not only by name but by physical characteristics. If, for example, you were to see a bird with yellow legs, you could enter "Yellow Legs" into the search field labeled "Physical Characteristics" and choose from a visual list of birds. To further hone your search, you can also add a geographic location to accompany the physical characteristic and look for birds with "yellow legs" in "California" (always separate the terms by a comma).

I think there is a taxonomic problem or missing bird from your site. What should I do?
By all means email us at: contact@birdpost.com

I think one of the pictures was categorized incorrectly. What should I do?
To report an inappropriate or mislabeled image to Birdpost, select the "red-flag" icon at the left-side of the page beneath the image viewer. Clicking the "red-flag" will immediately notify Birdpost administrators of the potentially problematic image and Birdpost will take corrective action where necessary. If you feel an image on a page has been labeled incorrectly and should reside on another bird page please also use the red-flag icon to notify our staff so that the change can be made.

What are the red outlines around the bird pictures?
The images of any birds that you have reported to your "My Birds" page will have a red outline around them throughout the site. If you are looking at the birds of New York, for example, the birds you have already seen will have a red border around them.

What is a "Species Page"?
At Birdpost, every bird in the world has its own "Species Page". The "Species Pages" are where the images for each bird reside.

What determines the order the bird images are presented on the Species pages?
The default behavior for images on the "Species Pages" places the highest ranked bird images (as ranked by the Birdpost community using the 5-star ranking system) at the top-left of the image grid. The top-most image will be the default image that appears on your "My Birds" page assuming you’ve added that particular bird to your list.

Will additional information on each bird be added at a later date?
Birdpost will be regularly implementing enhancements over the next year, including additional information on the various Bird Species pages.

How can I see an enlarged version of each bird image?
To see an enlarged image of a particular bird simply double-click the image viewer at the left of the page.

Can birds be added to a regional checklist? What if a rare bird is spotted within a particular region and does not reside on the checklist for that region?
Birds can be added to regional checklists. If/when a bird is seen within a given region by 3 different Birdpost users, that bird will be added to the checklist. The Birdpost team will also review any birds that are being added to the regional checklists to ensure that the birds being added fall within the realm of possibility.

How often does Birdpost upload new regional checklists?
Birdpost is constantly scouring the universe for the most complete regional checklists. If you are aware of a regional checklist for a region that is currently without one, please email it to us for our review at: contact@birdpost.com.

Why aren't there checklists for cities and towns?
There are a small number of US city/town checklists, but they are mostly for the biggest cities in the country. For the past century, the most useful level for regional checklists stops at the county level. Birdpost will likely implement city/town checklists for the most populous US cities and work its way down to the smaller cities/towns over time. Despite this, if you have a substantive city/town checklist, please email it to us at: contact@birdpost.com. *Note: on the "Regional Checklist" page, you may type any U.S. city in the search box and the search results will produce the county’s checklist for the city being searched.

Where does Birdpost get its checklist data?
Birdpost features the best available checklists from various sources, including the publicly available Wikipedia, Avibase/Birdlife International, and USGS checklists. The regional checklists you see on the site are really "starting points" for vibrant checklists that can amended over time based on actual bird sightings. Remember, if 3 different users see a particular bird that does not reside on the list, that bird will automatically be added to the regional checklist.

What does "track this checklist" mean?
The "track this checklist" link at the top of the regional checklist pages sends the checklist you are viewing at that time to the "My Checklists" page (sub-tab under the "My Birds" tab) where users can keep tabs on their progress and rankings within the regions of their choice.

You are missing my county checklist. Are you ever going to have it?
Birdpost is constantly uploading regional checklists as data comes available. If you are aware of a regional checklist that is not reflected on Birdpost please notify us at: contact@birdpost.com.

Who are the "Top Birders"? How does someone get on that list for a given region?
The data for "Top Birders" in each region is gathered from the sightings that are reported to the satellite maps for each region. The "Top Birders" are the users that have reported the most sightings onto the map for each region.

How do I delete a checklist from the ones I'm tracking?
To delete checklists from the "My Checklists" page simply select the "Stop Tracking This Checklist" link at the right of the checklist in question.

How do I print checklists?
Checklists can be printed by selecting the print icon at the center of any checklist page, including your own "My Birds" page. Printed checklists will place a checkmark next to the birds you’ve already seen/reported to your "My Birds" page and birds are separated by family names.

What makes a bird "rare"? Can any bird be placed on my "rare bird alert"?
Most birders know the term "Rare Bird Alert" as some kind of phone-in hotline with a recording about any rare bird sightings within a given region. At Birdpost, any bird can be designated a "rare bird" and once that bird is seen on the map that matches your desired geographic & time parameters an email will be immediately sent to your "Inbox".

How many alerts can I set up?
You are not limited in the number of alerts you are allowed to set.

How do I stop the alerts from coming? (How do I delete alerts?)
To remove alerts from your "Rare Bird Alert" list select the "delete" link to the right of the alert you would like to remove.

How often will alerts be sent to me? Can I change my preference so that it only comes 1x a day, week, etc.
Alerts are emailed the moment a sighting is reported to the map that meets the criteria you’ve established for each alert. Alerts are sent only once per each sighting that meets your Alert criteria.

Can I hide my Lifelist from other users?
Yes. To hide your "Lifelist" from the broad Birdpost community select the "Make Profile Private" button on the profile page – this will keep your "My Birds" page hidden from other users. Please note that this will not hide any sightings you may have placed on the satellite map.

How do I add or change my personal image or avatar?
To change your personal image on your profile page use the "Change" link beneath the placeholder avatar image. Your personal image will be shown on your profile page and on the pages of any other users that have added you as a friend.

How do I search for and add Friends?
To find friends, other birders, or birders in your specific region, go to the "My Friends" page under the "My Birds" tab and use the search fields.

Will I know which people have added me as a Friend?
Anytime you are added as a Friend by another Birdpost user you will be notified via your Birdpost inbox.

How do I contact other users?
To contact another Birdpost user go the user’s profile page and select the "Contact Me" button.

Can I make my profile hidden from some users and not others?
You cannot make your profile selectively public or private. If you decide to keep your profile private it will remain private for all other users.

Do I have control over My Images once I've uploaded them to Birdpost? What if I want to get rid of any or all of them?
Once images are uploaded to Birdpost they cannot be deleted.

Where can I see all the images I’ve uploaded?
To see all the images you’ve uploaded to date, go to the “My Images” page under "My Birds".

Once I upload a photo, is it automatically available to the Birdpost community at large, or can I just keep them private?
Any images uploaded to Birdpost are public images and cannot be made private. Do not upload images that you don’t want the broad Birdpost community to see.

How do I get to my Inbox? How do I send, read, reply to, and delete email
To get to your internal Birdpost "Inbox" go to the "My Birds" page and select "Inbox". Or, click on the envelope Icon at the top of any Birdpost page.